Socialphobia recovery process:How long does it take?

[Neebo]

I was just thinking when you have CBT for socialphobia,how many sessions do you need and how long does it take to recover from SA/SP? Because I suffer from it really badly and would like to know if I'll ever have a chance of leading a normal life ever again. Has anyone here had CBT and has it helped a lot or can it really make you recover successfully :? I also was wondering will I have Socialphobia for the rest of my life or will I ever be completely cured for ever? I've heard that socialphobia is a lifelong illness 8O I really hope this isn't true as I am desperate to lead a normal as possible life

 

[Hellraising]

For as long as you live. You can never recover from SA, you'd always be in recovery. However, I've heard people saying that you can minimise the fear and the anxiety till you forget that it's even there at all. So aim for that.

 

[Fighter86]

It really depends( I mean the recovery time). I have actually heard of people having recovered but it is very very hard work. In fact, I think some time back a guy called Ian actually posted here to tell his tale of having conquered SA.

But, I think in actual reality, the chances of 100% recovery is not that great, but people could greatly see improvement though, if they try hard enough.

 

[GettingThere]

There is a former sufferer of SP who is now a qualified Psychologist and who leads recovery programs for groups of people here in Brisbane Australia. She has a website but I do not know it.

Point is that on the face of things at least. she is a fully recovered former SP sufferer. It a shame that we do not get more feedback from recovered former SP'ers. I myself have come an awful long way. I had spent years not knowing what my problem was but now I suffer only mildly. The sooner that treatment of some sort is commenced (even if it is a self-regulated program based on that which has been gleaned from a book on the subject), the better because old habits die hard.

 

[FruitLooPs]

You can never rid yourself completely of anxiety, nor should you want to. Anxiety in small doses is good, and keeps you alert.

As for SA, I believe you can eventually get it under control enough to live a normal life.

I go for the sliding scale theory, everyone on the world has anxiety and fits somewhere along this imaginary scale - we are just up the higher end of it.

Thats more or less how you get labeled with having "SA", you suffer from anxiety that affects you from living a normal life in some aspect, so you are on the higher end of the scale. I see no reason except overcoming our own minds irrational fear as to why we can't shift further down the scale towards the average level of anxiety.

Thats what CBTs for though. Of course in real life there may be some people who just cannot overcome these fears as easily as others. :?

I dont think you magically wake up one day after cbt and are classed as 'normal' or whatnot, its a gradual process - and one that will vary in length for different people.

If you look at SA in a negative light it's only going to make it harder to get better really. Keep at it and you will get better, even if you dont notice immediate changes - look back a year ago after you've done something and you will probably notice a change, even a small one.

Rather than us having SA because of something hardwired irreversiable in our brains differently or something, I see it more as a large tangled ball of string that needs to be unraveled - however you do it is up to you.

 

[IcanDoIt]

I'm not sure that 100% recovery is possible. I've gotten to where I was doing great and then folded back in on myself again. Think it's a constant effort to move forward and maintaining your progress is the most important part. Think, for myself, I had made progress and then felt I didn't need to push anymore and that's when I regressed as it were. So now I keep a steady effort going and I'm doing a little bit better all the time

what u have said is true Grumble..

there will be times that u are doing great, but u go back to square one..

that is the inconsistency that we do not want..that may be demoralising to many of us..

i myself, have experienced that, and what i have found out, is that once you gain a technique that helps you with overcoming SA, write them down somewhere, so that you dont forget..

over the course of experienceing, you will soon realise that those techniques accumulate and these techniques can be used together to further lessen the SA symptoms..

for example,
this was what i did last time:

12-10-2004
1) breathe deep
2) relax the muscles
3) positive affirmation

then i would read them every morning and i will practice it no matter where i was, i was determined, persistant..

soon i found out that relaxing the muscles at the back of the neck helps me tremendously, and i jotted it down as well.

12-11-2004
1) breathe deep
2) relax the muscles
3) positive affirmation
4) relax muscles behind neck

and practice them over and over again...

i failed many times, and a lot of times, my depression kept setting in..

practice as much as possible, it helps improve that consistency..